The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering “does not require states to indiscriminately ban crypto-assets and crypto-assets service providers,” Pakistan’s Finance Minister said in a statement to the FATA. said in an email to CoinDesk after it was reported that it had imposed such conditions on the South Asian country.
On May 17, Pakistani news media reported that the country’s Minister of State for Finance and Revenue, Aisha Ghaus Pasha, said that cryptocurrencies would be required to be removed from the FATF’s “grey list” of countries under increased scrutiny. It reportedly said it had imposed conditions that it could not be legalized. According to another report, this is because Pakistan’s stance on crypto assets goes against the conditions set by the FATF.
Pasha told the country’s Senate Standing Committee on Finance that cryptocurrencies “will never be legalized in Pakistan,” local media reports.
Being on the FATF’s “grey list” is seen as a rebuke to the system’s deficiencies in combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
Pasha’s remarks are seen as the Pakistani government banning cryptocurrencies despite the country’s economic slump, partly due to the unstable political situation. Pasha has also reportedly instructed authorities to begin work to ban crypto assets.
In January 2022, the country’s central bank announced that it planned to ban cryptocurrencies, making its first clear stance on the new financial technology, CoinDesk reports.
The FATF encourages countries to understand the risks of money laundering and terrorist financing in the cryptocurrency sector, issue licenses, require exchanges to register, and supervise the sector in the same way as other financial institutions. He says he is asking to do so.
The FATF implements the same precautions as financial institutions for crypto asset service providers, such as customer due diligence, record keeping, and suspicious transaction reporting. (requests to collect and share information about transactions).
The FATF did not directly respond to Pasha’s remarks, but said, “Countries are permitted, but not obliged, to ban crypto assets and crypto service providers.”
US CoinDesk has reached out to Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs offices for comment, but has not yet received a response.
｜Translation: coindesk JAPAN
｜Editing: Toshihiko Inoue
｜Image: Shutterstock
｜Original: FATF Did Not Require Pakistan to Ban Crypto to Stay Off Its ‘Grey List’
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